Long term effects AFTER withdrawing from Effexor

Well, that’s reassuring as one positive from Effexor since inflammation is a major trigger for disease and cancer. I’ve been fighting my primary care doctor to let me wean down efffexor XR 75mg to 37.5mg and she’s like dealing with a timid child who doesn’t know if she should turn right or left so she chooses the stand still. It’s baffling to me how some of these MDs become doctors. I told her I was on 150mg for a few years and with my previous MD I simply said I want to get off this medication so cut my dose in half and they did and I was fine. Now, dealing with a new MD who acts like I’m asking for open heart surgery from a dentist when I ask for the lower dose. Unbelievable. I’ve heard it’s extremely difficult getting off Effexor completely so any recommendations for the weaning process is much appreciated. I don’t want the emotional numbness I’ve had since getting on the Effexor. It’s made me less social, more avoidant, less motivated to do anything, almost like I developed some kind of phobia about getting ready to go somewhere causing excessive worry about being late, which leads to delaying or refusing to start the process - therefor I end up exacerbating the tardiness fears by making myself late because I wouldn’t just get in the shower or whatever- so I either end up really late or missing out completely, but most often I cancel plans & appts I make because I don’t want to deal with the stress of getting ready & out the door. I never had any issues pushing myself to do things I didn’t want to do, but had to do for whatever reason, prior to getting on this dam* medication. I also had no idea it was extremely difficult to get off of and potential to cause permanent and/or long term problems once it’s out of the system. It’s infuriating to think about these unknowns never being remotely mentioned to me prior to the prescribing. As in there is no way I would’ve consented to taking it with the known risk/reward positivities. Especially, considering my depression was induced postpartum and exacerbated from high level long term stress from my job that finally made me turn to a doctor for medication to relieve depression/anxiety. Never had depression before giving birth and stress from my job was severe prior to, but never unable to cope with it until I had my son. I feel like a more appropriate plan would’ve been to advise me to take a leave of absence from work until I was able to address the postpartum depression via treatment. Not doing so was a a recipe for disaster walking me into the lions den of antidepressants. It’s effected my life in ways I will feel for decades to come and I wish I could go back and make the decision never to get on the medication in the first place. I knew better being in the medical field, but I thought there was no other way to keep all the things in my life manageable. Has anyone been able to get off Effexor and get back to who they were before beginning the medication?

My vision has been extremely damaged from Effexor! I had Lasik done 2 years prior to starting on Effexor and within 1-2 years of being on it started to notice I was squinting and then a few years passed and I went to the eye doctor to see if I needed correction of vision and sure enough I got a prescription so had to start wearing contacts again. I know I need to have my prescription updated again because my vision is not clear now again. I’m going to get off Effexor and praying I don’t have life long side effects.

@abcxyz
Generally speaking Effexor can be difficult to come off of because people try and get off to quickly.
My best recommendation would be to use a compounding pharmacy. It may or may not be covered by insurance depending on your insurance company. Also your doctor will have to write a prescription to have the medication compounded. I would choose 5 to 10% every four weeks.
Decreasing your dose when your dose is high causes fewer problems however as your dose decreases larger cuts are usually more problematic.
another option could be to use a bridge medication which personally I wouldn’t do however if you think you may need to be on antidepressants or antianxiety medication after you taper off Effexor that might be an option for you.
however you go back to taper I wish you the best of luck.
Jake

I don’t have any personal experience with the bridge, but I think some on Connect have had success with a Prozac bridge. They might want to chime in here.

My wife took effexor for almost 10 years and she weaned of slowly in 2018. She had to do it slowly because otherwise she became dizzy. Now since a year she the dizziness comes and goes throughout the day. She is in generally unhappy and she cannot socialize. She is coping with psychological problems. Her memory is very bad, can’t remember much from the past. And shortterm memory is also not good. I think she has permanent damage from the medicine. When she tapered off she didn’t use any supplement due to lack of knowledge. Wich supplements can be used in her situation. Do you have any suggestion. Wat do you use as supplement

I was only ever on 25 mg, regular-release Effexor taken daily to mitigate a specific physical issue—hot flashes. You don't say why your wife was on Effexor (or why she quit), but say that currently she is dealing with psychological problems, is unhappy, cannot socialize and has memory issues. You also mention that she is dealing with dizziness THROUGHOUT the day. Rather than experiment with various supplements, she would be better served by getting a medical checkup and perhaps even a mental health evaluation.

In the meantime and NOT in lieu of a doctor visit, OTC Dram*mine, Bon*ine, or other seasickness remedies can reduce/minimize the dizziness and vertigo.

Please see my comment just above. (In error, I did not use "Reply" to directly answer you and the site won't let me remove my comment and post it again as a reply.)

Hello. I know this is four years after your initial post, but I know people will still have the same question you posed. I took Effexor for a good 20 years. It took me 2 years to wean off slowly. My last dose was a month ago. Now, as I was weaning off, my generalized anxiety started to rise. I have no depression, but the anxiety is certainly there. Covid and being unemployed haven't helped, of course. But the main thing I've developed is incredible fatigue. There's no reason for it. I'm healthy and have no underlying conditions, but I can barely move. I do not know why, and neither does my doctor. It's also incredibly hard to find a doctor who understands the effects on the body when getting off long-term Effexor. This Mayo Connect has helped me more than most doctors. Has anyone else gotten the insane fatigue after coming off long-term Effexor?

Like you, my doctor's response was, "Just stay on it." So I said, No, I want off. By insisting and over two years, I am totally off Effexor. It's been about a month. What I have now is insane fatigue. I don't know if it's related. I have no underlying conditions and this is the only thing that's changed. I'm still going through tests to find out why I am so incredibly fatigued that I can't walk around the block and have difficulty breathing. The only thing that's changed is that I'm totally off Effexor. I took this horrible drug for 20 years so I am "guessing" my body is adjusting to not having it. I can only hope things will get better. I'm a little ticked off that there's so little information on line on the effects of getting off long-term Effexor or how long it takes to get back to who I was before this drug.

Stick with it, it’s a challenging journey but so worth it.

Namaste

Oh yes, hydrate hydrate hydrate…..